Martha Warnock Standing by Knox´s mill where she worked, living at 12 Muirend Street, Kilbirnie during the 1930s. Her husband Charles Brisco died in Newcastle in 1906, at that time she brought their Children back to Kilbirnie.
They were:
Esther married Neil McTaggart, (Kilbirnie)
John, married Agnes K Docherty, (Johnstone / Paisley)
Mary married William Dignan (Kilwinning)
Margaret (Kilbirnie)
Joseph (New York and Dalmuir)
Martha married James Knox (Kilbirnie)
This is an interesting photo of Townhead, Kilbirnie Ayrshire. The remains of Martin´s Shed (only a bit of a wall) can still be seen today just down from the supermarket (which was Morrisons), on the other side of the road in a little alcove behind some bushes. In this picture Martin´s shed is the white building in the middle. Kilbirnie Brethren Assembly first met here in the 1800s as well as the Good Templars Hall in Bridgend, Kibirnie, before they built the Gospel Hall in Schoolwynd 1897, on the site where Jamie Clifford was born.
Townhead – pre-1900s
Townhead – today
I have just published a book of poetry about Kilbirnie an Glengarnock, you can otder it as an Ebook or a paperback. Here is the link to the UK Amazon edition, the book is available in all Amazon stores worldwide
An article written in the 1990s while in Dublin for the Pioneer Magazine.
What Does Wexford and a small town in the
Southwest of Scotland have in Common?
General Sir Charles Massey Mathew, a celebrated War Hero from the First World War. Sir Charles was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1866, educated privately at Portsmouth Grammar School, started his career in the Durham Light Infantry, in 1884.
Continue reading “Major General Sir. Charles Mathew and #Kilbirnie War Memorial”
An interesting look at Kilbirnie, complete with family names
Brightly burns the glow of friends
constant, true and pure
No one can claim he has no kin
where Love always endures
A lamp that´s lit by Kin´s red flame
of blood spilt on the earth
for need of Love, a better life
on your land boats did berth
The boys who glowed within the light
were taken in your arms
for in the darkness their was hope
of new lives safe from harm
So to friends on distant shores
for many and the few
and a toast to those we cannot name
lost in the sea of blue
Lilac
Last night I dreamt of Lilac trees,
Upon the Garnock Stream,
amid the thorns and briars thick
a purple colour beamed
I thought about the folk who came
and chanced upon this sight
perhaps ancestors, long since gone
left it burning bright
Perhaps a bird did carry it
from far and distant lands
or from a child´s hands it fell
and grew to proudly stand
Or from the Castle seeds did blow
across the glade and vine
to where the lovers meet in quiet
with bodies deep entwined
Kilbirnie War Memorial, unveiled in 1922 by General Mathew of Place. He is buried in the Knox vault in Kilbirnie old cemetery, It sits next to the huge grave stone of William Knox, (the largest in the old cemetery)
Mr and Mrs Tod (middle) with Frank Fraser (R)
